Choices - What Goes Around
by gaelicboops
Summary: Companion drabble to the Choices series. This one provides some back story to why the world went boom before time reset for Draco and Hermione.


**Edited and reloaded 8/20/15**

 **AN:** I plan on expanding this at some point. It's newly edited for now. On the _Choices_ timeline, this idea slips into the story after Hermione and Draco have died and before time resets. The idea of Vernon and Marge being related to Dolores Umbridge was one that I just couldn't pass up. I've written them here as first cousins.

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 **Choices - What Goes Around**

Summer **1969**

It had been a wonderful summer so far and Vernon Dursley was planning on making the most of what was left of it before he returned to Smeltings in September. The television was on and he was enjoying an afternoon snack when there was a knock on the door. He grumbled quite a bit about having to get up himself, but his mother and older sister Marge were both out shopping.

When he opened the door he really wished that he hadn't. It was only upon closer inspection that he noted that his older cousin Dolores had not accompanied his Aunt Ellen and his cousin Eustice. Vernon hesitantly opened the door further and let them in. His mother would be upset if he turned away her poor twin sister.

Eileen Dursley nee Cracknell had been the jewel of her family when she married a respectable businessman. Her twin sister, Ellen, had run off and married a man of dubious background named Umbridge, someone the family didn't know and most certainly didn't approve of.

Over the years Ellen had become more and more unhappy in her marriage. The only person she had to turn to was her sister Eileen. Their children were all born within a few years of each other and had played together as youngsters. They didn't always get along but kids will be kids. Ellen had to keep an eye on her daughter Dolores, though, because she would have occasional bouts of accidental magic if the other children didn't play the games just the way she wanted them to. Vernon had been on the receiving end of more than one flare up.

It was a quiet and awkward afternoon as Vernon sat in the Dursley family living room watching television with Aunt Ellen and cousin Eustice. Eileen and her daughter Marjorie returned shortly before dinner. Ellen fell into her sister's arms and wept. Marjorie was instructed to make dinner and the two women disappeared up the stairs.

XxXxXxX

 **1977**

Vernon and Petunia Dursley had just been married in a neat and tidy ceremony surrounded by friends and family, with the exception of Petunia's sister who hadn't been invited. Eileen Dursley was so proud of her son.

Ellen Cracknell stood beside her sister and then looked upon her own son. She was proud of him as he stood there in his starched collar and pressed cuffs. Their previous life had been a nightmare and they had never regretted the decision to leave it behind. Eustice had just landed a government job. He was now an assistant aid to a junior parliament member.

XxXxXxX

 **1998**

Eustice Cracknell was in his office looking at the paper on the desk in front of him with more than a little distain. _The Daily Prophet_ had a front page photograph of Dolores Umbridge in all her smug glory as she signed in her new muggleborn registration law.

Things within the wizarding world had been sliding downhill rapidly in the past few years. The fatality rate of muggle victims had reached a boiling point, and The Crown was now looking to step in. Eustice was part of an elite group within the British government that was manned entirely by squibs. They were the first defense and detection line to protect those of the Queens subjects without magic.

The intelligence network that the task force had established with squibs spread across Britain supplied them with an abundance of information. Unfortunately, the memo he had just received verified their suspicions. The network was shrinking rapidly as people fled the country. This paper in front of him confirmed why they were so scared. The threat to the citizens was no longer confined to the terrorist group lead by Tom Riddle. The wizarding government itself had just legalized genocide. Eustice was due at an official debrief with the Prime Minister and heads of state within the hour and it was not one he was looking forward to.

Rumor was that the parliament was strongly looking at authorizing deadly force to quell the threat that the magical population now presented to the rest of Britain. The international ramifications of such actions sent a shiver up Eustice' back and he fully sympathized with the squibs that had decided to leave it all behind and start fresh on another continent.

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